[Windmania]

Hi,

Just had my wife’s 2016 228i conv w/ 28,000 miles serviced at the BMW dealership. They told me I am using low quality gas. I told them I always fill with premium from Costco. The response was it is really low quality. Anyone every hear this about Costco gas?

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by Windmania

Hi,

Just had my wife’s 2016 228i conv w/ 28,000 miles serviced at the BMW dealership. They told me I am using low quality gas. I told them I always fill with premium from Costco. The response was it is really low quality. Anyone every hear this about Costco gas?

It’s nonsense. Costco has among the newest underground tanks, high purity standards, and far exceeds Top Tier requirements. Gas stations obtain the basic gasoline from a variety of local sources and each then adds the proprietary detergent package. The petroleum market is dynamic and the source for every local station can vary. You’ve likely seen tankers with unknown names filling the underground tanks. Costco sets the high standards for what they buy. We’ve used it exclusively for many years in all of our BMW and MINI cars as well as others. No issue. It sounds like you’ve been given uninformed street gossip.

[CarbonLion]

What was the service performed? Was it scheduled or did the car need to be taken in for something specific? Costco gas must be manufactured to the TopTier standard, but I do not know if this certification takes into account transportation/storage considerations which may also play a factor (and be an independent variable).

[jliuod]

You should ask them what made them think you were using a low quality gasoline? People pull shit out of their asses all the time for all different stupid reasons.

I have use exclusively Costco gas in my Audis, Porsches, and Miata with absolutely no issues over many years.

[MidwayMuller]

Time to find another service center. Costco is among the highest quality, especially in states with 91.

[abcfgh]

hah bs. what was the issue

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by Windmania

the BMW dealership...told me I am using low quality gas. I told them I always fill with premium from Costco. The response was it is really low quality.

As a Top Tier gasoline, Costco's product is unlikely to be causing you fuel related problems. The dealership people need to tell you what the specific problem is and why they think the fuel is causing it.

Info on Top Tier gas can be found at the following site. This page lists the stations selling it, and Costco is on the list:

https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/

[Maynard]

Ditto the suggestions that you get the tech to be specific about what they saw that gave them concerns, and take it seriously if it deserves that (i.e. take it seriously if they tell you the intake valves are full of crud at 28k, but not if they tell you bad gas caused your battery to go soft). I would not put as much faith in the quality of YOUR Costco gasoline as others do, if it sounds legit. As noted, gasoline comes from a few local places, and all Top Tier should be good, but the key word is 'should'. There are certainly times when a specific business will cut big (even illegal) corners to save money, and switching low grade 87 for top tier 93 would be a prime candidate for the 'they'll never know the difference' rationale. At even $.50 per gallon, that would be thousands of dollars a week for Costco, enough to bend morals pretty far out of shape. It would most likely be a local person grifting, not a corporate policy, but if there is evidence of bad gas I'd try going elsewhere for a bit (and if the mechanics tell you they see a lot of this locally, then I might start to suspect that the substitution was happening at the supplier level - but I'm kind of a cynical bastard when it comes to trust in corporate ethics). If you really have Q's, I think you can call county inspectors to check it out.

[Pray for Mojo]

Could be a bad batch or someone put regular in by accident. There's been some issues with fuel quality during the pandemic, stuff was sitting in tanks longer than normal.

Costco here uses Shell V power but without the same additive pack as Shell branded stations. I don't run it because these cars don't seem to like it compared to other brands, but I think that's region specific more than anything.

[XutvJet]

I work in the environmental consulting industry and I'm well versed in petroleum underground storage tanks (USTs) and do audits at fuel terminals (where the fuel comes from for local filling stations). In 1998, new USTs regs were introduced requiring all sorts of leak protection safeguards for USTs. Lots of USTs were yanked in the 1990s in anticipation of the new regs. USTs are heavily regulated and monitoring systems quite precise as to alert the operator if there's a leak. Point being, the days of groundwater infiltrating into the UST are over. Nearly all USTs these days are plastic lined.

As USTs become less full, small amounts of moisture can build up in them. Thanks to ethanol being used in most gasoline these days, it makes the fuel more readily accepting of that moisture. Same thing happens in your car's gas tank.

Also, sediment and plastic debris can enter the USTs either from the walls of the UST, the tanker trucks, the tanker truck fueling hoses, and debris that falls into when the fill port lids are opened. This sediment settles on the bottom of the UST. When the tanker truck fills the UST, this sediment can get stirred throughout the fuel in the UST. The fuel pump hoses do have in-line filter that can capture this debris. However, if I see a tanker truck at a gas station, I'll go to another one. It's not worth the risk.

All gasoline from a terminal is the same. It's all about the additive packages which are added at the terminal at the time the tanker truck is being filled. The major producers like Shell, BP, etc. have very good additive packages and is probably why BMW recommends the fuel (they may also pay BMW). I can't speak to Costco, but if I had my choice between Costco fuel and Shell or BP, I'm going with Shell/BP every time.

[raddoc]

Dealer BS, probably in an attempt to either sell you a tank cleaning, fuel filter or some additive. Tell 'em to prove their allegation or they'll lose your business....

[Windmania]

Originally Posted by CarbonLion

What was the service performed? Was it scheduled or did the car need to be taken in for something specific? Costco gas must be manufactured to the TopTier standard, but I do not know if this certification takes into account transportation/storage considerations which may also play a factor (and be an independent variable).

It was just a routine service, oil change and such. They said there was a fault reading poor octane. It’s my wife’s car and we typically use it on the weekends. Maybe we are not driving it enough.

[PDM5]

Things like this are why people hate going to the dealer.

[Maynard]

I'd bring it back in a month and ask if has repeated that code. IIRC, that code will also trigger a reduction in performance (timing and boost pulled back). If you are getting it repeatedly, then it is time to check the sensor, and/or your source of gasoline. Hope it is just a fluke - ethanol gas can suck up enough water over time to affect quality on a tank-by-tank basis. And as far as 'why we hate dealerships' - what would you rather they do, ignore an error code and not tell you about it? Not be able to scan for codes? If so, there is a legion of poorly trained shop boys just itching to work on a newer BMW for the first time. They'll even know where to get the REALLY cheap replacement parts off of ebay, so you don't also get ripped off by the parts dept.

[PDM5]

Originally Posted by Maynard

I'd bring it back in a month and ask if has repeated that code. IIRC, that code will also trigger a reduction in performance (timing and boost pulled back). If you are getting it repeatedly, then it is time to check the sensor, and/or your source of gasoline. Hope it is just a fluke - ethanol gas can suck up enough water over time to affect quality on a tank-by-tank basis. And as far as 'why we hate dealerships' - what would you rather they do, ignore an error code and not tell you about it? Not be able to scan for codes? If so, there is a legion of poorly trained shop boys just itching to work on a newer BMW for the first time. They'll even know where to get the REALLY cheap replacement parts off of ebay, so you don't also get ripped off by the parts dept.

Not going to blame his wife, but someone could have easily accidentally put 87 in there instead of 91/93 and not even noticed it. Instead of telling him Costco gas is crap (it's not - and I don't even have a dog in this fight since I don't shop at Costco or other huge warehouses), tell him hey just keep an eye on things and maybe switch to where you get gas every now and then.

As far as using cheap parts, I'm not sure where the logic in not going to the dealer equates to using eBay parts. I have my vehicles serviced at the dealer under warranty and then either do the work out of warranty myself with OE or OEM parts or take it to a specialty shop for jobs where I'm too lazy to do.

[TemjinX2]

most people who work at dealerships dont actually know anything about cars or like cars. Its just a job to them. There trained to say things to get you pay for services to make the dealership money, that is their job.

I would get a obd wifi reader and just read the codes yourself.

As others said..there isnt many oil refiners out there any more, most companies just buy from the big 3 oil companies.

[SteveinArizona]

what crap. I would run from that dealership as fast as you can if there is an alternative available to you. If not, I would tell the service manager what a stupid remark you got and ask for his best SA as a replacement.

Not only is Costco gas "Top tier" they sell so much of it that it is always fresh. I think that my Costco gets several deliveries of gas each day.

[morphomeman]

Good point about freshness. The lines there are constant and long.
For good reason: they charge 30 or 40 cents less per gallon than any other top-tier outlet.

[overcoil]

anything is possible

https://www.nj.com/hudson/2019/04/co...n-bayonne.html

[TrboMike]

I would:

First, ask my wife if shes been putting regular gas in the car, or if she went a a ghetto gas station a few times.

Second, either call the dealer and demand to know exactly why they said the car is performing badly (ask for the code number so this forum can tell you what it really might be) or buy/borrow a code reader and see if there is a code for timing pull or detonation yourself. Some codes stay in memory without putting on the check engine light.

Third, go to a different dealer for service. If I was a service manager and my team found something on a car that showed it had a performance issue, I'd want to know what is wrong with that car. They cant go to the car owner "you need to buy better gas" and leave it at that. Anything that could be a symptom of "bad gas" could be a much larger problem that is going to break something soon and should be investigated.

[Maynard]

I know people love to hate on the dealerships, but OP said "They said there was a fault reading poor octane" - there might be other causes, but to me it is perfectly sensible to suspect a tank of bad gas for this. The extra editorial dissing Costco was probably a bit off base, unless they'd already seen a dozen cars with the same issue who also got gas there (so before you go screaming to the manager, ask the tech why he said that). I'd certainly wait to see a fault code again after I'd bought gas elsewhere, before I tore into replacing sensors. And FWIW, everything I've heard is to avoid getting gas right during/after they refill the tanks b/c it kicks up sediment, so a place that gets 3 deliveries a day would potentially have worse gas.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

anything is possible

https://www.nj.com/hudson/2019/04/co...n-bayonne.html

This article is strange because I'm not aware of any fueling station that has the capability to inject additives into the fuel stream. That process is typically done at the fuel terminal while loading the tanker truck.